Thursday, January 17, 2008

Egomania Loves Company

In the Post today there is a laudatory statement by deranged and inspired boxing promoter Don King about my friend and yours James Dolan:

"From the philanthropic and the humanitarian aspects as well as sports and entertainment, he's a guy who speaks his mind, says what he means and means what he says, and is willing to accept the consequences. That's what you have in this man I pay tribute and salute, Jim Dolan."

Yup, that's creepy and makes me uncomfortable. The reason for King speaking so passionately about someone who isn't himself is that Dolan is taking a footing a large portion of the bill for this weekend's fight between Roy Jones, Jr. and Felix Trinidad at the Garden. He put up an estimated $8 million in "site fees" for the bout this weekend that would have been awesome if it was ten years ago. After all, these two have almost 80 years between them at this point.

All in all, it seems like Dolan has made another poorly judged investment with this fight and will end up losing money when all is said and done. But, he will have another larger-than-life figure whom he can pal around with for a bit. And, clearly that's all that matters with this guy.

"Clever Girl"-Robert Muldoon

They couldn't do it against Houston last week. And, they'd rarely been asked to do it before that. But the past two nights, the Knicks have defended and held a lead against teams trying to come back against them late in the game. They're learning how to win basketball games right before our eyes.

There were two crucial moments during last night's win against the NJ Nets and both came with less than two and half minutes left. The first was when Nate Robinson checked back in with 2:27 showing on the clock and the scored knotted at 99 apiece. Using a 12-2 run the Nets had come all the way back from a double-digit fourth quarter deficit and most of that run occurred with Nate on the bench. The second decisive moment came with 59 ticks remaining and the score tied at 102. Jamal Crawford hit a three-pointer from the right side of the arc to give the Knicks the lead that they would not relinquish. The pass came from Robinson. This was the start of the 7-0 run that wrestled control back from the Nets and iced the contest.